Back to Table of Contents
‘contains’ and transforms it through psychic work; the transformed content, together with the ‘function of containing’ itself may be then re-introjected by the sender. While the developmental prototype of this model is the mother-infant relationship, the concept is also applicable as a special kind of unconscious communication that takes place in both dyadic relationships and in groups as well as in the psychoanalytic process. It also applies to the understanding of intrapsychic processes, where the individual tries to contain, convert/transform, and convey his/her emotions in words. In a clinical situation, the process of Containment has a special significance for understanding psychoanalytic processes and the first steps in the development of thinking/symbolizing. Technically, it means more than silently bearing the infant/patient’s screams, or other displays of suffering. Containment involves identification, transformation and interpretation in dealing with emotional experience. The above multidimensional definition synthesizes and expands existing contemporary regional and international psychoanalytic dictionaries that include the term. Of note are subtle differences in emphasis among them: Alain de Mijolla’s (2002/2005) “International Psychoanalytic Dictionary” carries the entry Container/Contained by Claude Guillaume, who emphasizes the aspect of ‘becoming a psychic object’, i.e., “to become a psychic object, the projected element has to encounter a container, or a thinking function” p. 340); a related entry “Alpha function” by Hanna Segal highlights the functioning of the container, converting/ transforming the sensory data into thoughts, i.e., “The mother’s receptivity to the child’s projective identification is a central factor in this process. Her receptivity is dependent upon what Bion called the maternal capacity for reverie—a dreamlike state whose contents are love for the child and its father” (p. 52). North American Salman Akhtar’s (2009) “Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis” includes the term “Container” and related entries “Alpha Function” and “Theory of Thinking”. The focus here is on the mother’s and analyst’s role in the developmental and clinical process. In Latin America, the “Argentinian Psychoanalytic Dictionary”, edited by Claudia L. Borensztejn (2014) does not include the term, but the renowned Bionian scholar Paulo Cesar Sandler’s (2005a) “The Language of Bion: A Dictionary of Concepts” provides a comprehensive exposition of “Container-Contained” from historical, theoretical, developmental, dynamic and inter-disciplinary perspectives. He brings up the paradoxical nature of the concept, in which “something that contains and something that is contained perform the functions of containing, and being contained vis-à-vis each other” (Sandler 2005, p. 160). Sandler’s emphasis is on Container-Contained defining a “function of the personality” as well as an “element of psychoanalysis”, and being a form of relationship “from the inception of life that allows emotional growth and the growth of the thinking process”, through which “meaning is obtained,” thereby becoming “equated to thinking itself” (ibid p. 160). Sandler situates Container-Contained model as the most developed form of Bion’s Theory of thinking, historically inspired by many of Freud’s developmental-dynamic and clinical conceptualizations (1895, 1900, 1911, 1915, 1926, 1933, 1937), while directly deriving from Melanie Klein’s theory of Projective Identification.
67
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online